Dealing with gas prices: little book, etc

Rising gas prices
Last year, I put myself on a gasoline diet. I determined I was only going to spend $20 each week on gas, no matter what! With the rise in gas prices, this is going to be rough. However, my resolve has not weakened on this decision. Parsimony will serve me well. So, maybe you call it cheap or frugal?

Little book
I have a day planner that I can use, but other items are in there. Doctor appointments, hair appointments, things that don't need to clutter a book about money spent. It had to be small and thin to fit into my purse. The perfect book appeared, a perfect little book only 20 pages thick. The cover is plastic. The pages are like a little book with staples in the centerfold. My plan is to make the inside next year and use the plastic cover if it holds up.

Recorded gas purchase
On Tuesday, March 1, I bought $20 of gas, received 6.06 gallons, and paid $3.29/gallon. This record is a hard and firm reminder of what I am doing with gasoline and my money. Correction: I paid $3.29 for gasoline, not $2.29! I wish.

Recorded food expenditures
On March 2, I took $100 and put it in a change purse for groceries this month. I have another $50 to use also. I have not recorded my food purchases for the remainder of the week. But, the receipts are inside the little plastic cover. Even if I don't record the food purchases, I will still stop buying food when I run out of money in the little zippered, red, leather coin purse where I keep grocery money.

Recorded sales
My goal is to make at least $50 from items I sell. The items can be antiques, my stuff I don't want or need, or things I buy to sell. One person exclaimed that my goals were certainly low. No, I want attainable goals. I cannot sell or haul things around all the time. So far, I have sold and recorded $120 of items from my house in the first two months of the year.  That makes me $20 into March goals. I need to sell another $30 of my things to meet the goal for March.

It is so easy to forget things, so I want to be certain I have a backup for my memory.

Writing on the 22nd is bleed-through. I will use a different pen.

Not driving
I am not working, so this is attainable. I go out when the traffic is lightest during the day. That way, I don't have to sit through too many lights. I went to the bank and immediately drove to the outside window--no waiting. I turned off the car for the duration of the transaction. If there were a line, I would have gone inside. I can also go late at night for some things, avoiding traffic altogether.

Just stay home?
I will get cabin fever this way! Seriously, I need to be out some. However, I talked to a friend to determine when their church has a game night. In the meantime, she told me a mutual friend had lost her husband. She wants us to get together and play Monopoly at the mutual friend's home. Or, was it Scrabble. I like both. It's a long drive (8 miles), but will keep my urge to go anywhere at bay.

Since I need a major car repair, going to visit friends in Huntsville or Birmingham has not been prudent.

Yes, I can invite friends over and have plans.

Drive prudently
I never make jackrabbit starts from red lights, and try to time lights so I can roll up to them without using the gas and then the brakes for the last ten feet. If you think about it, you, like I, can plan routes to avoid congested areas, known time-wasters. Since I live in a small town (19,000), I can drive in a sane manner and not have someone shoot me. I try to move at a steady pace instead of repeatedly using the gas too much only to have to slam on the brakes. I have always driven this way.

I know, I know
The gas will evaporate if I don't fill it each time. Yes, and it will disappear if I get too cocky, thinking I have gas and blow it too soon. We all need markers. This is mine. $20 in the tank....  At some point, I might start putting in $40 every two weeks. But, I really like the idea of keeping the schedule weekly. Plus, the hand moving to E on the gauge will be a deterrent to driving.

Accountability
The book will keep me on course and honest and in the black.

Other modes of transportation
We have no mass transit. I don't have a bike and am not sure I could ride it for the length of time. I would need to even if it were safe and possible. Sidewalks are not consistent. Riding or walking in weeds, mud, or without a shoulder are some of the choices.  The town is not walkable. This town has two major highways intersecting it. I can walk to boutiques, the courthouse, and attorneys' offices. If I could walk that far, I could walk to the farmer's market--5 blocks.

Batching car chores
I already do this, but will have to redouble my efforts. Some days I do go out for one chore and later drive for another. No more.

Your turn
Do you have a new or creative way to handle the rising gas prices? How do you handle the situation?

Plastic Milk Carton Mini Greenhouses

Photo
I sat down here to take this picture because the hens would be in the frame. No, they are shy today. This was the third time I tried to get them into the post. They don't move farther away, just to one side or the other. I tried.

Video
One of the blogs I follow has a great idea. For my purposes, I think I will put in some little cells to germinate plants. Maybe I will follow her video. I might put seeds into the pots where I intend my basil to grow, just using each jug for one largish pot and plant. Since I have only managed to save about six jugs from milk and vinegar since I saw this, I may change my mind about the one-plant-per-jug idea I had.

Green and Groovy has a  video posted for making greenhouses from milk jugs. Okay, check it out and come right back. There is another video where a guy uses huge and expensive tools for the horizontal cut and the and the drain holes. I used a single edged razor and a steak knife. I could have used either, but I switched to see which was easier. Both work fine. If I can cut with my hands hurting and think it is easy, it will be easy for any of you.

First step
So far, cutting one jug is the extent of my preparations.  There is one short video showing a guy using monster, expensive clips and a hot tool...forgot what it was. I used a single-edged razor blade but could have used a simple utility knife. Maybe I used and old steak knife for the horizontal cut and the holes in the bottom. I intend to cover the whole bottom of the pot with cloth so no dirt will fall out. But, that's just me.

Another idea
This may be an old idea. I saw it 20+ years ago. My neighbor who was 94 cut bottoms from milk jugs to use over her tender plants when a frost was imminent. Just take the bottomless jug and press and twist it to get it just a bit into the ground. It worked. Now, if I had just saved more than a half dozen milk and vinegar jugs!

Your turn
Has anyone used this method? Do you have seeds germinating now, using any method?

Parsimonious comfort food from my childhood

The past aromas
Two weeks ago, I made a scrumptious dish I have never made. My mother made the last I ever ate, before 1981. Delicious Chicken and Dumpling was on my mind all week. Last week, I bought several packs of boneless, skinless breasts. When I brought them home, they went into the big freezer. Older packs of chicken and a hen came to the refrigerator freezer. I knew the destiny of the hen.

March 8, 2011--My mother would have been 90 years old.

Cooking from the aromas of the past
I had a problem. I could smell the chicken and dumplings as they cooked and were served to me in the past. But, I knew nothing about how to cook the pot of food I wanted. The idea swirled through my consciousness for a few days. I adamantly refused to look online for a recipe. Finally, I decided that the first thing Mama did was to boil the chicken. The reason I did not look for a recipe on the internet was silly--I did not want to read a recipe with anything as fancy as onion or garlic included.

Salt and pepper were the only seasonings I remembered. The olfactory memory was really strong for a week. Got it: boil a chicken, whole, in water seasoned with salt and pepper. Right now, I can see Mama, standing in the kitchen, pulling the chicken meat from the hen, still hot and very tasty smelling. YUMMY. I could actually taste them. That thirty-year-old memory was strong.

After thinking about the pot of food yet to be cooked, in my mind's eye I saw the water, now white with the flour from the dumplings. For a while I had considered using a can of biscuits from the store. The lack of the dusting of flour would not make a semi-thick, white broth.

If my life were in the balance, I could not make a decent biscuit from my memory. Even with a recipe, the biscuits I make are just all wrong. My Better Homes recipe book yielded two dumpling recipes. Both were drop recipes. One recipe was from Bisquick. I decided to make the one that was not from Bisquick. RATS! It calls for oil. So, instead I just put in some Crisco that I did not use at Christmas. Christmas baking is the only time I use Crisco.

The pastry blender cut the Crisco into the flour mixture. Success. This dumpling dough was so coming together. I spread a dish towel and dumped a bunch of flour on it. I was so surprised I remembered how to make crust or biscuits. When I rolled out the dough and cut the strips, it was working for me.

The chicken was in a dish, cooling, waiting for me to take the chicken meat off the bone. Chicken is done for dumplings when all the chicken meat falls from the bones. The broth had been strained through a fine wire colander. I dropped the strips of dough into the pot of boiling broth. Each step I took, I felt more confident. Of course, I was really nervous when the dough starting billowing and there was lots of flour coming off the dumplings. Eventually, the dough was done and the broth was thickened by the flour. I placed the chicken I had pulled off the bone into the pot of cooked dumplings.

Chicken and dumplings recipe
Boil hen (in water, salt, pepper)until it falls from bone (easier to get off)
Salt: about 1 tsp
Pepper: two shakes of shaker
Take chicken from broth
Into boiling water, drop dumplings one at a time.
Move the cooking dumplings over so you can drop one dumpling at
a time into a place in the pot with just broth.
Cook about 12 to 15 minutes. (I started timing when I dropped in the last dumpling.)

Dumpling:
1 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 Tbsp Crisco or other solid shortening
1/2 cup milk

In bowl put four, salt and soda
Stir with fork
Add Crisco; cut flour and Crisco with pastry mixer or fork
Add milk, stir
Place 1/2 cup flour on smooth dish towel (not terry)
spread flour on towel
put dough in the middle of flour
put flour from the towel onto the dough
roll to 1/4 inch thickness
Cut each strip into two pieces
Boil in broth for about 15 minutes
Put chicken back into the broth and dumplings
It is ready to serve.

Comfort food
My comfort food will be on the menu more often. I almost cried when I ate it. It reminded me of my mother. I had never eaten chicken and dumpling made by anyone but my mother. And, from now on I will never eat chicken and dumplings made by anyone but me.

Cooking for the week
Not only do I have chicken and dumplings for 4 more days, I have one of the breasts to use in green salad with tomatoes or a chicken sandwich with salads greens. The hens have at least enough scraps for four more days.

Frugal eating
Chicken: $0; flour, salt, baking powder: negligible (okay, $0.25); 4 oz milk: $0.09. I did figure out the cost of a cup of milk. I just don't want to bother with the cost of dry ingredients. Hmmm, cost of electricity--I don't know. Without figuring the cost of electricity, my cost of this main dish was about $0.34 divided by five meals=about $0.09 per meal. Add the cost of half a can of turnip greens, and the meal cost about $0.50 each. If you are paying full price for the hen, the cost is about $0.90 per serving. The cost of the whole meal depends on the the vegetables you serve.

Actually, there is a whole breast left, enough for two more meals, maybe more. So, the cost of the meal meat for two more meals brings down the cost per serving considerably.

Added bonus
I know I sound spoiled and picky. The breast is the only meat from a chicken that passes though my lips...except when it is in dumplings. This is a big win for me.

Vegetables?
There is no memory of what we ate with the chicken and dumplings. I tried to bring it back. Maybe turnip greens? Daddy probably wanted some kind of beans. Anyway, I opened a can of turnip greens. Later, I ate the last of the blackeyed peas.

Just imagine
Why would anyone dump biscuits in chicken and water? So, the woman had a chicken from the yard and a bit of flour. Making biscuits is a possibility. She can serve chicken with biscuits. No oven? Just cook the biscuits in the pot with the chicken. Ooooh, now we have "gravy." The whole meal is cooked in one pot over the wood fire.

Your turn
Does anyone remember chicken and dumplings fondly from childhood? What is your favorite comfort food from your childhood?

Gotcha! Now, you die!



about 30+ pounds

 Okay, animal control officer just came and transferred Mr. Coon to his truck and said about 25 lbs, if he had to guess.

The rock foundation is NOT that green!


It is hard to see the real size of this raccoon. Now, I have one less raccoon tormenting me and trying to kill the hens.


fur evidence of the exit

This is where they broke the screen going under my house.

Is Thelma broody or actually laying an egg?

As I went inside after taking the pictures, I found this blissful sight. Thelma is inside the Rubbermaid box, either laying an egg or just being broody. Update: Thelma laid an egg. Someone did.

Just in case you are feeling sad for the raccoon and think I am hard-hearted, it is against the law in the State of Alabama to relocate a raccoon. It is also the law that a captured raccoon must be put to death. "Euthanize" makes you feel better? Okay, whatever.

Your turn

Are your hens being picked off one by one by a predator? Is any of your livestock being murdered? Have you seen or captured a predator at your little urban or rural homestead? See why I need a predator-proof chicken pen/cage?





Size DOES matter!

All funnels are not equal
I have had the aluminum funnel on the left for over 35 years. It has served me well. Someone gave me an identical one, so that I have two of these now. As you can see, I have shut the drawer on it dozens too many times. Even bent, it works.

New acquisition
I have seen the larger funnel on the Internet. Yesterday, I saw one in a locally owned store. It had the exorbitant price of $7.98. I swallowed hard and bought two, the last two. This will be my one purchase outside of gas and food for March...my mad money...lol.

Overbuying?
Not really. Before I had two small funnels, I was having to stop and wash a funnel when I accidentally poured jelly so it ran down the outside of the funnel as well as inside. Sometimes that mistake resulted in jelly on the counter fronts and the floor. So, having a wider tool that makes my job less arduous in terms of less work and time means a lot to me.

More pressing use
As I pour beans, rice, pecans, and oats into half-gallon canning jars, I find that the stream is often too wide for the smaller funnels, resulting in slower work or oats on the floor and counters. Of course, I give all that to the hens. But, I would rather not have to sweep the floor after and overflow.

Measurements
Old aluminum--4 inches vs new stainless steel--5.5 inches. Plus, the flare of the larger bowl helps contain the rapid stream of things like beans and oats. Unfortunately, the wider and more flared bowl of the funnel helped me to overfill! But, I would rather learn that on dry items than sticky liquids.

By the way, the diameter of both the smaller ends, the mouth, is the same. So, the larger funnel fits in all my canning jars just like the smaller funnel does. It may be difficult to determine this in the picture.


Age and experience
Of course, my experience with canning and homemaking makes things easier for me. But, as I age and injured hands are harder to compensate for, it helps to have the handiest tool I can find.

Your turn
Have you acquired a new tool that makes your canning or other work easier?

How can I spend less if you keep trying to sell me more than I need or ask for?

Midnight Truffle
After you hear my tale of woe, you will know why I needed a Mini Blizzard. It was only $0.99. The cup was only four inches high.

DQ
I am way too cheap to buy full-price Blizzards from Dairy Queen. If I do buy anything at all from DQ, it is some sort of ice cream goody. I tried one Blizzard when they first were introduced. The sign tempts me every time I drive by on the way to anywhere in town.

Stress
But, this was a special occasion brought on by stress. I won't go into the details, but I was being pressured. How many ways can a person say "NO" before someone stops trying to force a person to buy more by repeatedly saying how you need something or how good the deal is for you? And, I don't need to hear, "Is that ALL you are going to buy?" "Ummm, yes. Haven't you understood that the last ten times I said it?"

Destressing
I took to my swing and ate this Mini Blizzard, Midnight Truffle. I have only had too much chocolate two times in my life. This dessert had a golf-ball-sized hunk of dark chocolate, all gooey and chewy in the ice cream. I struggled with the last three bites.

Relenting
I will go into the details. It's the commode. The flapper works. The handle works. The piece to connect the chain to  flapper broke. A friend made it work with a pair of my needle nose pliers. Then, whatever hooks the handle part inside the commode onto the chain broke. So, I have to plunge my hand into the commode to pull up the chain and flapper.

Fixes
I am not going to spend money, so I used household items for quick fixes. Dental floss held the ball chain to the handle part inside the commode. That broke eventually. A small, cheap, flimsy key ring worked for a long time and rusted, I suppose.

The problem
I need something to hook the handle part and the ball chain together. But, the hole in the end of the ball chain fastener is tiny. So, really large wire won't work. The wire must be about pin or needle size. I explained in very small words to employees in two stores that I did not want to purchase anything EXCEPT something to hook the two parts together, something that would not rust right out.

Both guys heard the word "commode" and immediately blurted out "kit." I asked both to allow me to finish the first sentence. Their eyes glazed over. They looked determined when they heard I needed one thing, one tiny part. They battered me with words, explained how what I wanted did not exist anywhere, any time.

Start over
The guys had one-tracked minds. "I want something to hook together the inside of the commode handle to the ball chain,  and it does not have to be commode parts, just small enough to hook through the ball chain clasp." "Or, give me some way of fastening it."

Three hours of my life
I think part of the problem was I was in the store's electric cart, looking helpless, and obviously addle-pated. (not quite there, mentally). The men were relentless...."What you need is...a complete kit." "No."

Need?
How do you make a guy understand that, no, you don't need a new commode handle. No, I probably cannot get it off. No, the flapper is new. No, I am not sure how to get it all apart and back together. No, I cannot see through the top of my bifocals to do this. No, my hands will not allow me to get into the right position. No, I don't want to do without a commode overnight and then have to pay a plumber. NO!

My suggestion
"I was thinking of a piece of any kind of hardware or wire that would not rust and have proper tensile strength and be small diameter."

"That won't work."

"Why?"

"Because you need a kit."

Do you see why I needed the Blizzard?
Okay, I could have gotten a cheaper chocolate fix. But, I did not.

Solution
I bought a piece of stainless steel cable. I can untwist it and use two of the wires. Yes, indeed I did. It is my money and my storage problem. Oh, I have a basement that I can fill with parts, but I try not to.

Buying more than you need
Maybe I should say "being sold more than you need." Have you had people try to oversell? It is my money and my commode. It is something that will lie around after I take off the part I need. I finally told the last guy I would concede that I "needed" the whole kit if he was going to purchase it and come home with me and install it. Of course, I was not serious. He was just disgusted.

Your turn
Do you have a clerk or anyone try to sell you more than you need? Does the person do this, saying it is "what you need?"

Is this mean of me?



incredibly blue sky today

I am not actually criticizing, am I? Okay, I suppose help is help, but....
One day when I was having a particularly bad day with my knee and exbf was here, I asked him to hang five hand towels on the line. It seemed he was gone way too long. Maybe he was talking to hens or picking up a limb while outdoors. I did not ask or even worry about why he took so long.

Later, after he left I went out to take down the towels. I was greeted with the strangest style of clothes hanging I had ever seen. Each small bar towel was suspended by two clothes pins. Notice how the pin straddles the line and only the tip of the pin holds the corner of the towel. A strong wind would have taken them all off the line. Even a heavier item would eventually fall. Obviously, this was a new experience to him.

I usually lap clothes over the line and put two corners of different articles of wash in the same pin. 

The only circumstance in which I would correct his form would be if he were a regular at my clothes line or if he were hanging heavy towels. He has never been married at 57 and doesn't understand personal dynamics of two people. So, he would not take any suggestions well. Ask me how I know? 

So, I thought this was bizarre and hilarious. Five lone towels hanging so precariously amused me.

Hmmmm, having a rethink here. This is actually a big deal. This is not just how we do things differently and achieve the same goal. Any clothing on the ground would require a rewash because chickens wander here everyday.  Big deal or not, I will still never mention it.

Your turn
Please, please pleeease, tell me this is not mean of me...lol. I just had to share even though I did have to recreate the scene. Have you found any equally inadequate or bizarre means of accomplishing a chore and had to remain silent?